Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Our friend Lizette came round to show Lynn and myself how to do backgrounds

using shaving cream and food colouring.

It was really messy but a lot of fun!!

Here's me putting two cards together having dipped one in the colour tray to make two backgrounds.

Here I am getting more card - I think we got through three packets!!

Just look at this gorgeous stuff!!

This afternoon I used two of the back grounds to make a couple of cards - these are the two I chose to use.

I distressed them round the edges using Tim Holtz Distress Inks 'evergreen bough' and 'festive berries' and matted them on card blanks made with the same colour cardstock as had been used for the backgrounds.

My favourite technique of the last couple of weeks has been emboss resist backgrounds!

My opening picture shows 5 cards. On four of them, butterflies have been cut from the backgrounds and either placed back in their holes or put on dimensionals alongside. The Christmas card has just used a piece of background to add to the design.

The card I like the best is this one - it uses the 'Lost Coast Designs' Crackle background.

Firstly, a background stamp has to be chosen. The next picture shows examples. One on a wooden block and three cling types - one on an acrylic block and two on Fiskars press pads. I find I need both sizes of these as some of the larger backgrounds are too large for the smaller one.

Take a piece of white cardstock somewhat larger that the image. This avoids burnt fingers when using the heat gun! Try to remember to rub your cardstock with a static reducing pad before embossing - it's easy to forget! Mine is a home-made sachet filled with corn powder, but baby powder can also be used.

The background stamp I have chosen is a 'Stampin Up' one with definitions of friendship on it.

It is inked up with Versamark or similar embossing ink and an impression made.

I usually have my embossing powders in a shallow tray as then any surplus can easily be tipped back. As this is a large image it is easier to apply the embossing powder over a piece of folded scrap paper as then the powder can be poured back along the fold.

So - cover the image with clear embossing powder and tap off the excess.

Heat it with a heat gun until the powder melts.

Because this is clear embossing powder on white card it is not very visible!

However if you then apply distress ink, the background will appear - the more ink the clearer it will become...This is perfect if you just want to use the background as is, like in the Christmas card above.

With the butterfly cards however do not add colour yet...trim the embossed image to a size that will fit the card blank. Lay on the dies randomly and run them through the Big Shot.

I have used the butterflies from the Hero Arts stamp and die cut Framelits 657773.

Add colour - I have used Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Spiced Marmalade and Evergreen Bough. Here you see that I have added the colour to the butterflies still in the dies. I also distressed the rectangle around the edges.

Here the butterflies are replaced in their holes...

Add a base paper to a folded card blank.

Add the emboss resist pieces and embellish...

Here another two examples show different colour choices, The butterflies on the left show white edges as they were coloured in the dies. The red butterflies were coloured out of the dies and have been further distressed around the edges.

In these cases the butterflies are offset from their holes and positioned on dimensionals.

A final example - here the background has been used behind the image and further pieces have been punched out to make a motif.

Thursday, 21 March 2013

Well...I had two small rectangles of card embossed using a lovely butterfly folder - I distressed them with Tim Holtz Fired Brick and Evergreen Bough and then Tea Dye round the edges...What to do with them??

I had this Sketch from Monday Mojo 285 on my work table and I thought my two rectangles could be used
in the layers. The very bottom layer was a paper from a Basic Grey paper pad. I used Nestabilities to cut my plain and scalloped circles and Stampin Up stamps for the images. Ribbon from my stash...a card to welcome twins?

Wednesday, 20 March 2013

Yesterday was my WIAD (Women in Abu Dhabi) Card making group...I demonstrate two cards and after each demo the group try their skills and develop the theme.

The first card involved an emboss resist background. This is my favourite example from this set:-

A background stamp (Lost Coast Designs - Crackle) was inked up with Versamark and then embossed with clear embossing powder. The butterflies were then cut out using the Big Shot.

(Dies from Hero Arts stamp and die-cut Framelits 657773 were positioned randomly on the background.)

The background and butterflies were coloured with Tim Holtz Distress Inks

and further distressed around the edges.

The card was completed, matting on a toning backing paper,

the butterflies on dimensionals and an added bow...

This next picture shows two more backgrounds and butterfly sets after the distressing stage. The green butterflies on the left show a white edge as they were distressed still in the dies; the red ones on the right have been further distressed around the edges.

These ended up as follows:-

The second card yesterday involved making a home-made stamp pad using a baby wipe and re-inkers.

My favourite from this set of examples is this one:-

A baby wipe stamp pad was made up by folding a baby wipe into a small rectangle and dripping two or three drips of several re-inkers on to it. It is then used to stamp the desired image.

Here I used in particular Memento Cottage Ivy and Danube Blue re-inkers.

A piece of card was stamped randomly for the background

and three extra images were stamped for the motifs. The image is a Kanban one.

(Oooh - that reminds me there was a Kanban Challenge I was going to participate in...)

Friday, 15 March 2013

A couple of days ago I noticed Mad Crafters Giggles on Facebook - they do a Daily Mad Challenge! This is a little out of my comfort zone - I usually take more time to think about and construct my cards! However I have joined in on the last few days. Today the challenge requires a dress form...This made me think of a couple of cards I made some time ago...

Not really a dress form but a card in the shape of a dress, cut from pink card. I then used part of a scalloped circle to make the collar added the skirt, an overlay of vellum embossed with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots and a length of ribbon.

Here the dress is cut from a scalloped circle of sparkly card. Again I added embossed vellum - I do love those Swiss Dots!

But on to today's card...yes it has an overlay of Swiss Dots. But the dress form has been put together using an oval (Nestabilities) and a heart shape. The stand is made from parts of Maya Road Chipboard Decorative Scrolls, distressed with Tim Holtz Stormy Sky Distress Ink. Embellishments from my stash - but the backing torn paper is beautiful home-made paper that I bought in Kathmandu!

Monday, 11 March 2013

Last November I made several 'double fold gate' cards to go in my Christmas card collection.

Basically a 12 in strip of card is scored at 2", 4", 8" and 10". Mountain and valley folds are made to make a card which opens out as above but closes to make a gate. Each panel is matted with decorative paper, often rounded at the corners and usually distressed around the edges. I often add an extra rectangle for a greeting. A motif is then adhered to one of the front panels to match the theme...above I had Santa, Rudolph, stockings and festive greetings. Embellishments add the final touches.

This week I have again been looking at the 'double fold gate' fold.

Firstly, I made a Mother's Day card.

This was a replacement to take part in a swap as I believe my first try was lost in the post!!